What, Dan Moren’s not available? Where could he be? What could he be doing that’s so important, it takes precedence over the Macworld news remainders for Friday, January 14, 2011?
MIT Mystery Hunt (MIT)
Apparently a bunch of geeks get together and solve puzzles over a weekend at this Boston-area event, which kicked off this morning. Shame that it starts on a Friday, though. That precludes a Boston-area person from participating in it, unless they took a personal day… wait a second. Moren!!!
Apple tells newspaper: no free iPad edition for print subscribers (AppleInsider)
Are you a subscriber to some sort of periodical, perhaps a magazine or newspaper, who is wondering why you can’t get free access to the iPad edition of that periodical as a part of your subscription? This story might explain things. Several European newspapers are reporting that Apple doesn’t want to allow that approach, because it elbows Apple out of its 30-percent cut.
As an employee of a magazine that still publishes on those dead trees, I recuse myself from making any jokes about this one. Sorry.
Sprint CEO offers ‘no comment’ on possibility of gaining Apple’s iPhone (AppleInsider)
Only in the overheated world of Apple stories would an innocuous “no comment” from Sprint’s CEO be turned into a six-paragraph story speculating about what it all means. Hey, I’m intrigued by the idea of Sprint getting the iPhone too. But sometimes no evidence is just no evidence.
Verizon iPhone 4: Promising, but likely to be short-lived (Consumer Reports)
Apple’s sometime-nemesis, sometime-pal Consumer Reports is back with a blog post that mixes a little bit of cold-water realism with a little bit of persnickety nitpickery. I could deconstruct the post, but there’s no point when you can read Bryan Chaffin’s analysis of the Consumer Reports analysis over at The Mac Observer.
Charlie Rose talks to Verizon CEO Seidenberg (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)
In this interview with Verizon CEO Ivan Sidenberg, we learn that Verizon was never really much of an alternative to Cingular/AT&T as a launch partner for the iPhone, because Apple was “more focused on a single technology,” namely the GSM technology that works with both AT&T and carriers all over the world. “If you do your job well, then in an industry like this, eventually the right partners are going to end up on the dance floor,” Seidenberg said. Aww, and Steve Jobs asked Ivan to dance! Nobody tell Joe Wilcox.
Old Sierra On-Line games now available on iPad via the web (TUAW via Touch Arcade)
Long, long ago, there were a bunch of crazy computer adventure games published by Sierra On-Line. I had King’s Quest for my Apple II, and it was the only game I ever saw that took full advantage of its super-high-res graphics mode. Well, now those games are available to be played on the iPad, via your web browser. At least, until the intellectual-property attorneys come knocking. Wait, what am I talking about? Intellectual-property attorneys don’t knock. They nuke the site from orbit. Enjoy your King’s Quest while you can, iPad users.
Inside a chocolate factory so nerdy it’s controlled by an iPhone (Gizmodo via The Feast)
San Francisco chocolate factory Tcho (Technology and Chocolate, y’know) is super high tech, super hip, and super controlled by an iPhone. Insert your own “Willy Wonka” joke here—I’m going home.